The Vatican - M.E. Clayton Page 0,12

in their company, but I was committed to Luca (as he always calls her). He also hammered home that I had better be extremely careful about what I did because if an unexpected pregnancy became the result of all my fucking around, he’d give Saveria to Sal Jr.

That threat has stayed with me every day since.

Saveria and I have always been close. We were the same age and grew up in each other’s pockets. It wasn’t hard to fall in love with her. She was easy to love. Even if her looks were what they were, Saveria was…amazing. She inherited all the grace of our mothers and all the strength of our fathers. Saveria was a born leader, and she truly was regal.

The decree that I allow her time to grow and become her own woman had become harder, and harder to honor as we’d gotten older. The more beautiful she became, the harder it was to control my dick. And the more independent she became, the harder it was to control my inner caveman.

The first time I heard she’d gone out on a date, I had to be restrained by my father, Uncle Phoenix, and Uncle Ciro. Aunt Frankie had to jump in when it became clear that they had needed more firepower. Aunt Frankie had ripped me a new one when she announced she knew I wasn’t a virgin, and she wasn’t about to let her daughter marry a chauvinistic hypocrite.

That had shut me up.

But then, only the threat of keeping Saveria from me could.

It took them five hours to convince me to see it from a grownup point of view, and not that of a hotheaded teenager.

Because it was an arrangement, they had wanted us to both experience enough life to not end up resenting each other later in life. Basically, they wanted us to have time to sow our wild oats before committing to a lifetime together. Because that’s what it would be.

A lifetime.

And like a true insecure male, I only fucked around whenever Saveria went out on a date or had a new boyfriend. It didn’t matter that they were never serious. Another man was kissing and touching the girl who was meant for me, and me alone. Maturity had dulled the sting, but not by much.

When I had taken her at the funhouse and discovered she had still been a virgin, the caveman had come out, and it had been him fucking her into oblivion against the wall that night. Being forced to stand by and watch her date random motherfuckers, but knowing she’d never given it up had convinced me that she really had been meant for me.

For the girl to let me take her virginity, up against a wall, after killing a man, who else could she be meant for, but me?

My only regret was letting our parents convince me to wait all these years later to make her officially mine. After being inside Saveria that night, there had no longer any satisfaction in any sexual encounters after that. They’d all become biological releases, and it just hadn't been the same as being inside Luca Saveria Fiore.

I dropped the weights and sat up, my chest heaving, my body sweaty. I grabbed my water and drank, debating the best way to break the news to her. She was going to be pissed, no doubt, but I refused to settle for less than what my parents had. What all our parents had.

I knew Saveria, and I knew she was going to feel cornered. Not only was she going to have to marry me, she’d have to move in with me. My building had the same setup as Kratos, only not as many stories. My building had only four stories, with my penthouse taking up the entire top floor. The remaining three floors were made up of two apartments, the third-floor housing Cira and her guard, the second-floor housing Camilla and her guard, and the first-floor housing Vincent and his guard.

There were four Benetti buildings that housed our generation, but none of the girls occupied the first floor. You’d have to get through our men to get to our women.

My head turned at the sound of footsteps entering the gym. While, Uncle Phoenix and Uncle Ciro had access to my penthouse, only one man walked in without knocking. Sure, Mom, Aunt Frankie, and Aunt Remy had access, too, but they never showed up unannounced. They tried really hard to treat me like a grown man.